Beasant, Goodyear, Phelan, Jones, Young, Thorn, Gibson, Cork, Fashanu, Sanchez, Wise. It's 20 years since Wimbledon lifted the FA Cup, but the names don't fade. While 1988 saw surely the most memorable Cup final of modern times (and it has some tough competition - 1987, '88, '89 and '90 can all stake a claim for all-time classics) 2008 provides a first-round tie the very existence of which rivals Bobby Gould's underdogs' victory at Wembley as a footballing heart-warmer. AFC Wimbledon take on Wycombe Wanderers on Monday evening in the first-ever first-round appearance for the phoenix that emerged from the ashes of Wimbledon FC. It's another landmark, perhaps an even more meaningful one than their return to Wembley last year.

"It really is the cherry on the cake of our season," says David Cox, the chairman of the Dons Trust. "To make the first round proper for the first time in our history, only six seasons after reforming is a major success story. It's another one of those gradual steps. The FA Cup has always been important to us, part of a history dating back to the games against Leeds and Burnley in 1974-75, it's always been part of Wimbledon."

Monday's game is another piece of the AFC jigsaw, another link in the chain that anchors the club to '88 and all that. In the delightfully understated way that seems to be the trademark of everything this club does (lead story on the club website today: volunteers needed for Monday's raffle), AFC are making a nod to the heroes of 1988 by printing an image of Dave Beasant lifting the Cup aloft on tickets for the tie. Yet while the temptation remains to hark back to the Crazy Gang's finest hour, AFC have the opportunity to make their own indelible mark on the Greatest Cup Competition In The World™.

Since '88 the annals of FA Cup folklore have remained relatively free of all things Dons. The old Wimbledon made the quarter-finals in 1989 and 1996 and the semis in 1997 but MK have failed to make much of an impact, with unspectacular exits at the hands of Peterborough, Southampton, Blackpool and Crewe in their four attempts. The way is clear, then, for AFC, who beat Bedford Town, Dover Athletic and Maidstone United (another club who deserve a day in the spotlight) en route to the first round, to put their own unique stamp on the competition.

And their chances of an upset aren't too bad - 10 games at Kingsmeadow this season have brought eight wins and just the one defeat. Wycombe, though, are undefeated on the road (in fact, AFC might have stood a better chance at Adams Park, where Wanderers' two cup games this season have brough an aggregate score of 0-11) and AFC's four-match winning run came to an end last weekend with a 3-2 defeat against Blue Square South promotion rivals Chelmsford. That display had manager Terry Brown furiously predicting: "If we perform to anywhere near that standard against Wycombe they'll totally muller us, totally."

Brown, though, has not shied away from talking the tie up. "The reason I came here was to be part of something special and this is a very special club," he said this week. "This game gives us a real chance to put AFC in the spotlight and show to the fans how far we have come in six years. This is ticking off another box and is a real milestone for us all. I think it's fair to say that it will be the biggest day in our history."

Hyperbole? Possibly. The more practically-minded fans still point to last season's play-off victory over Staines, when two goals in the last eight minutes saw AFC come from behind to claim promotion to the Blue Square South, as the most crucial match in the club's short existence. That feet-on-the-ground outlook, one that has served the club so well in it's fledgling years, also helps explain why the news this week of an agreement between the club, their landlords Kingstonian and Kingston Council over a new lease on perimeter land around Kingsmeadow (a deal that goes a long way to securing the long-term futures of both clubs) is viewed as an event whose importance rivals that of Monday's game.

This weekend may also provide a second first: it'll be the first weekend ever when AFC fans might be just cheering on the team in Milton Keynes. Not all of them, though. "I will never be cheering them on," says Cox. "There was a lot of talk before the draw for the first round proper: would it be a good thing and was it what Wimbledon fans wanted? It goes both ways to be perfectly honest. There are those who cannot wait to play the other team and beat them heavily, and there are those that think, and I probably fall into this category, that there is absolutely nothing to be gained from playing them."

With the added exposure of Setanta's cameras, and a crowd that could creep close to 5,000, AFC are certainly hoping that Monday's game does bring gains, with financial ones not least among them. But whatever the outcome - for what it's worth, I'm predicting an unromantic away win - the FA Cup is a richer competition for their return.